Estate Planning

Bastrop Estate Planning and Wills Lawyers

Our estate planning and wills lawyers will customize a cost-effective plan to take care of your wishes and to minimize the burden on your family after your passing. Maybe all you need is a simple Will. Or maybe a Living Trust would best suit your needs. Maybe you need both.

• Do you worry about what will happen to your property after you die?
• Do you want to minimize the cost and burden on your surviving family members?
• Do you have specific family members in mind to receive specific property from your estate?
• Do you want to determine which of your heirs receive any property from your estate (or maybe who receives nothing)?

If the answer to any of those questions is “yes,” then you should take care of estate planning before it’s too late. Any of us could “get hit by a bus” on any given day. Even if you’re young and in good health, a little estate planning goes a long way.

Estate planning brings peace of mind in knowing your loved ones have been taken care of. No one wants to burden their family with costly and complicated court proceedings that can be necessary when a person dies without a Will or a Living Trust. The result can be an unfair or unexpected distribution of your assets in a way you never intended.

A Will or a Living Trust can be used in most cases to make the process as inexpensive and as easy as possible for the family. It is sometimes possible to structure your estate so that all your assets are distributed without your family needing to probate your estate at all!

The Bastrop estate planning and wills lawyers at the Law Office of Derek Van Gilder have helped hundreds of families and individuals to plan for what happens after death. Wouldn’t you rest easier knowing that you’ve taken care of your family so they will not be scrambling to take care of those matters during their time of mourning?

If you don’t already have a Will or a Trust, what are you waiting for? The cost of having a legal and proper Will and/or Living Trust prepared is just a fraction of the cost your family will bear in litigating your estate in the probate court if you pass on without a will. The potential for costly probate court litigation increases significantly if you’re married and you have one or more children from outside the marriage.

In many cases, a simple will can cover all your needs–allowing you to determine how your property will be divided among your spouse, children, and or others to whom you wish to provide for. A simple Will is often sufficient for people with minimal assets, unmarried people, couples with no children, and people who have a Living Trust in place.

If you have significant personal assets, or if your financial situation is more complicated, a Living Trust may be a good option for you. In many cases, a Living Trust will allow your heirs to avoid any probate of your estate altogether–resulting in a simpler, less expensive, and seamless distribution of your assets.

No one likes to think about their own death. However, everyone should have a Will and/or Living Trust in order to control how their assets are distributed and to minimize the stress, cost, and complications that will be borne by their family. No adult is too old or too young to start estate planning. Your loved ones will be relieved that you planned ahead and made the necessary arrangements for them.